Police box

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A police box — or police public call box — was a telephone kiosk that could be used by the police to call into a station (TV: Logopolis) or by members of the public wishing to get help from the police. (TV: "Bell of Doom")

Unlike telephone booths, a police box phone was on the outside of the structure, in a little compartment that had an exterior, instructional label. (TV: The Empty Child) According to Tegan Jovanka, who once read aloud the instructions on a TARDIS disguised as a police box in the Borough of Barnet, the instructions were:

As the Ninth Doctor once pointed out, there was enough space in a typical police box to temporarily house a prisoner. He indicated that a typical usage was for a policeman to pop an arrested individual into the police box and lock the doors until transport to a station could be arranged. (TV: Boom Town)

During a trip to London in 1966, the Ninth Doctor appreciated the fact that it was one of the rare occasions the TARDIS' police box exterior was "any cop as a disguise". Rose Tyler noticed the TARDIS had landed next to a genuine police box and asked if they normally came in pairs. (COMIC: The Love Invasion)

The Barnet Bypass police box was mistaken for the Doctor's TARDIS by Prince Genei, who immediately abandoned his plans to conquer Earth. Shortly afterwards, the police box — the last of its kind in England — was taken away, as it was considered useless. (PROSE: Useless Things)

On multiple occasions, ships, mainly TARDISes, had taken the shape of actual police boxes.

DI Billy Shipton was familiar enough with real police boxes, or had conducted enough research into them after finding the Doctor's box at Wester Drumlins, to recognise the TARDIS as a counterfeit in 2007. (TV: Blink)

On a visit to London in July1966, the Doctor solved the potential problem of local policemen mistaking the TARDIS for a genuine police box and trying to use it, by hanging an "OUT OF ORDER" sign on its doors. However, Dodo did point out to him that not even the police would be able to open the door. (TV: The War Machines)

Bill theorised that the Doctor deliberately kept the TARDIS' disguised as a police box due to the implications behind the "Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately" line on its door. (TV: Smile)

On 28 February1981, as part of a complex plot, the Master materialised his TARDIS around a real police box on the Barnet Bypass. The Doctor's TARDIS, still disguised as a police box, materialised around the Master's TARDIS, also disguised as a police box, creating a dimensional anomaly and a trap for the Doctor. (TV: Logopolis)

Although the TARDIS is depicted and referred to as resembling a wooden box on a number of occasions in the series, the exact design of police box the TARDIS is based on was built of concrete. Earlier models were indeed made of wood.

The production team planned to feature the Barnet Bypass box in the series in Logopolis, only to discover that it had been vandalised shortly before the filming dates. The series' spare police box prop was refurbished and pressed into service to stand in for the actual box.